Wrestling season kicked off Saturday at Elkin High School with the Perry Lloyd Invitational, and high schools from across the state packed the house, all happy to get back on the mat.

“It’s six minutes of nonstop, just a lot of conditioning, and you need a lot of heart,” Elkin junior Juan Anuario said.

With it being the first official matches of the season, and in some cases, of student’s high school careers, expectations aren’t nearly as high as toward the end of the season, but it was a good opportunity to gauge how teams are looking, and what they need to work on.

“First match of the season, I know I’m looking sloppy, but we’ve got a lot of venom for the end of January, early February. That’s when it matters,” Anuario said.

East Wilkes was also in attendance, and senior Colby Cooper knows that while the team is young, that’s not an excuse to keep them away from their goals. Cooper made quick work in his opening match, seemingly ending the match as quickly as it started.

“I want us to be conference champions at first, and if we can get there, and get better individually because we’ve got kids who it’s their first year, then we can work our way up to possibly a state championship,” Cooper said.

Results were not immediately available, but will be online at elkintribune.com

Ryan DeCosta can be reached at 336-258-4052 or via Twitter @rsdecosta.